The Players
by MagisterShiryu
Summary: When Lie Ren had first arrived in Beacon with his best friend, he had easily ignored the numbers floating above peoples head. After all it hadn't helped him, nor changed him, so he felt that it wasn't that important. What happens when he delves deeper into the matter, and discovers that there are things called... Stats? Skills? What is this, one of those video games?
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** So, I decided to create another fic about everyone's favourite male ninja (apart from Genji/Naruto/Sasuke/Itachi) Lie Ren gaining well, Gamer powers.

I wrote one about four months ago called Lotus' Game or something like that, and it somehow got deleted. Anyhow, I'm rewriting it with Volume 4/3's additions, which will be rather fascinating to dissect, and evaluate with the Gamer semblance. Note that if I get anything wrong with his backstory, I'll _try_ and edit it. If it doesn't work with what I'm writing Ren as, don't expect me to change the entire story around that little fact.

Also, unlike other gamer fics, Ren does not play video games _at all_. So expect him to rely on other people to find out what the hell was going on with this strange addition to his arsenal. Spoiler alert.

* * *

The Players

Chapter I

Gamer

* * *

Lie Ren had started seeing numbers above peoples head, around about a month ago when he had first arrived at Beacon. He didn't know when or how it had happened, but he didn't plan on telling anybody about it. He didn't even know what the hell they signified, and wondered if it was some type of weird Semblance that he didn't even know how to use properly.

Meh. It hadn't exactly saved him when he had been forced to fight a King Tajitu. Not that he minded not using his Semblance, because that meant that he wouldn't grow dependant on it like Ruby or Weiss. Not that he was saying that they were bad fighters by any stretch of the imagination, but their Semblance usage in fights was nearly off the charts.

On the matter of fighting, after the Cardin situation was resolved, Jaune had started training with Pyrrha which had drastically improved his skill. It would take months before he was on par with them, but at least he was trying.

Because he was bored, and had a free period with Nora for once in one of her Dust classes for in her words, "Better dust usage, better explosions all round!", he resolved to seeing what the hell these numbers meant.

He looked over at a few third year students, and noticed that the numbers above their heads was in the areas around 50, whilst one of his classmates was at 20. It made him narrow his eyes in concentration, as he continued analyzing the seniors and his classmates, to check if his theory was correct.

He was eventually proven right, since nearly everyone of his seniors in the 50's range, whilst the second years were in the lower bowls of thirty, and the fourth years were in the badass 70's range.

There were even some people that merely had question marks above their names, that meant that they were far out of his reach.

One of the terms that he occasionally heard Jaune talk with Ruby about with, was video games, and that levels were essentially estimations of strength. So, the levels of his classmates were all at the very least, 10 levels apart.

God, using that analogy made him feel utterly stupid, but it _did_ work.

So, his Semblance was to be able to analyze his opponents, and see if they were out of his range? That sounded like a good idea, but when he didn't even know his own level... That was a major problem that he should resolve as soon as possible.

"Ren?" Jaune's voice came out from behind him, stopping his contemplative thoughts right in their tracks. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied, standing up from his position on the bench in the courtyard. "Finished your extra class with Pyrrha?"

"Er... Yes. It went alright." The leader of their team stumbled on his words, apparently not expecting the sudden turn of the conversation. "You do know that you've been staring at a wall for the last five minutes?"

"Yep. I did know." Ren replied, deciding if he should ask his leader a question that was indirectly about his Semblance. "Jaune. In your video games, how do you check the level of your character thingie?"

"It depends. And, in not all games, do you have a levelling up system." The knight replied, honestly. "But why do you want to know? You've never had an interest in video games before."

"..." Ren had not expected for Jaune of all things to be so perceptive. Then again, everyone had thought that this exact same person to lose against his first Ursa encounter. "Let's talk about this in private, alright?"

The blond simply nodded, and motioned to the ninja to show the way.

After ten minutes of trying to find some place private, the two boys decided that behind the school would be efficent enough, even if tons of couples met over there. Ren personally couldn't care less, but his leader seemed more against the idea.

Eventually, the two found someplace private, and the black-haired teenager merely sighed before motioning to Jaune to speak up, who looked like he wanted to say something.

"Is this the part that you tell me that you're gay?" The Arc got out, flushing red in embarrasment.

What? Is he serious?

"I-i don't find it weird..." The blond idiot continued.

Ren massaged his temple, and wondered what the hell had him thinking that his male friend was that perceptive? Perceptive, sure. But not... Aware, was probably the word that he was groping for.

"No, I'm not gay, alright... What even gave you that impression?" The non-gamer said, massaging his temple.

"It's... How the hell are you managing not to stare? Like, you barely even give some of the sexiest girls in our school any eyes at all!" Jaune cried out.

"...Maybe because I have _Nora_ as my best friend?"

That made the Arc go, "Oh... Ohhhhh... I get it... So why did you bring me here?"

"I've discovered that my Semblance is some type of estimation of somebody's abilities, like those level things that you were talking with Ruby about-"

"Wait, you heard that?" The leader interrupted, looking half amazed, half worried.

"There was only a wall between me and you two..." The ninja deadpanned. "And you two are loud for some reason, when you talk to eachother."

"Dude, Nora says that you think that everyone's loud... Even Blake." It was now the Arc's turn to deadpan back.

"Nope. Haven't said a word about Blake, yet." He denied, before turning the conversation back to its original course. "Can we get back on track?"

"Yeah... If you could just describe it for me again, please." Jaune asked, his eyes turning serious for the first time since the conversation began.

"If you want. My Semblance seems to be some type of level estimation, similar to those video games that you play. For example, you Jaune, are level 9, and our classmates are in regions of level 20ish, from what I managed to gather from when I was 'staring at a wall', like you said earlier. So, would you have any clue how to check my own level?" Ren lectured, ignoring his friend's mutters 'am I that far behind?'.

"How about, you see if you have a stats page or something like that?"

That was an idea, Ren mused. It wasn't that far of a shot to think that he'd have his own statistics page or something like that. He concentrated, and when he opened his eyes, an image of himself in the corner of the window, and a list of stats such as WIS, LUK, among others.

His level was 22, which was decidedly average if he wanted to be confrontational about it.

"So? Did it work?"

"Yeah... In those games, is there things like INT, and DEX for example?" He asked, curiously.

"Yep. They determine how high-levelled or not you are. Can you tell me what it says?" Jaune inquired, looking like he was giddy in anticipation of... Something.

"Yeah... It says: **Name: Lie Ren. Level 22. STR: 37 - DEX: 47 - VIT: 34 - INT: 46 - WIS: 42 - LUK: 40. HP: 750/750, AP: 1598/1600.** " He said, before Jaune grabbed him by the arm, and forcefully pulled him towards Beacon.

"What are you doing?" The ninja asked, not particularly caring since he could easily get out of Jaune's hold.

"We need to talk to the team about this... If my thought on what your Semblance is, it could be incredibly beneficial to us four." The knight replied, eventually letting go of the ninja's arm.

"Fine by me... But don't we have Professor Goodwitch, in just about ten minutes...?"

"Shit... We're going to be late!"

* * *

Jaune Arc had not expected his friend to have a Semblance that let him see the world as a video game... If his hypothesis was true.

Despite the fact that he wasn't that knowledgable about most things, he did notice things. He did know for example, that his shield was useful for blocking _and_ for staggering an opponent.

But, what preoccupied him at the moment was the fact that him and Ren were about to be late! It wouldn't be the first time, but he didn't want to drag his friend down in the mud with him.

And, Ren was also slowing down so that they could keep the same pace, give or take. They eventually entered the room, with the two boys panting like they had run a a marathon.

"Mister Arc, and Mister Ren. Take your seats, please." Goodwitch ordered, who seemed to have decided to not punish them with a detention for some odd reason.

Jaune hastened to obey, his friend closing the door before following him to where Pyrrha and Nora were sitting. The two girls fixed the two of them with looks, asking where the hell they had been.

Ren shrugged, and started to sit down on the table next to the girls. The knight followed him hastily, and Goodwitch started her lesson anew, making it seem like nothing had happened.

Even for Jaune, this was strange. Normally, she had at least _something_ to say about tardiness. It was more like Professor Port and Oobleck to make it seem like nothing happened.

"Today, we will be doing matches between teammates, so that any faults that are noticed by your teammate can be improved upon. For example... Miss Xiao Long overextends a punch, and for example, Miss Rose counters, which is normal from my understanding of it. After the match is finished, _regardless of the result_ , both of the teammates involved can point out eachother's flaws. Two at a time, please, and both people have to consent for a match. Is this okay?" The professor lectured, before gazing at her class who seemed to enjoy the idea.

"Anyone have any questions?" She asked.

A wolf faunus raised his hand, and inquired, "Can classmates as well say their thoughts...?"

"If it doesn't become hate speech, then yes." Goodwitch answered, bluntly. "If racism or bullying gets involved in anyway shape or form with the comments, then they will have to fight me."

Now, that stilled anybody's ideas of doing anything of the sort, he noted as Cardin seemed to slump down.

Ren motioned for a team huddle to Jaune, which he motioned to Nora and Pyrrha.

"So, who's with who?" The knight asked all of them quietly.

"I reckon that it shouldn't be with partners, because of the potential biases that we can have." Ren said, before letting his head gently fall onto the desk.

"I have to agree with Ren there..." Pyrrha admitted reluctantly. "We all do have biases one another, and it can double as more team bonding."

"Yay! I'll be fighting Pyrhhhhaaa!" Nora exclaimed, intentionally dragging out the end of her name.

"I think that Pyrhha definitely needs a better nickname..." Ren commented, from his positon on the table.

"Yeah... I'll come up with one, during the fight, I promise Renny!"

"Quiet down, Miss Valkyrie!" Goodwitch barked out, before returning to refereeing a match between the wolf faunus and his partner.

"So, it's settled? Me vs Ren, and Nora vs Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, after a moment's pause.

"Yes/Yeah/Yep." The three of them agreed, with varying levels of sound.

After the wolf faunus' team had finished, Nora put her hand up and asked cheerily, "Me and Pyrrha now, please, Prof!"

The two had departed, and Jaune quickly whispered towards his friend, "What level are both Nora and Pyrrha?"

"Hmm... Nora is level 25, and Pyrrha is a whopping level 39." Ren replied, seeming unfazed by how freaking strong both of their partners were.

"What about team RWBY?" The knight continued.

"Well, Yang is level 28, Ruby is level 25, Blake is level 21, and Weiss is level 22." The ninja replied, before adding, "But to my understanding, for all we know, they could all be invested in maybe one or two stats that are both super high, but the others are about as strong as a non-aura enhanced extremely skilled person."

Jaune felt a bit hurt at how low his level was, compared to the numbers. It had been said, but he _hadn't acutally realized_ how far behind he was. Now, he knew that he had a long way to go before he was as strong as his classmates. "And Miss Goodwitch?"

"I can't see her level. I have a cap at how high I can see levels, from what I observed earlier. There are some third years that are level 50 to 60, so the fourth years, I'm estimating are probably three times stronger then Pyrrha. So, essentially, everyone is a monster when they enter third year." Ren explained.

"So, how come in the Vytal Tournament, you only see one to second years?" Jaune asked. He had only head his father talking about this, but wanted a better explanation.

"That's because of the fact that when you enter third year, you study exams, and go on missions. They don't exactly have the liberty of going to tournaments." His friend explained, easily.

"Hey guys, it's your turn!" Nora exclaimed, despite the fact that she was sporting a massive bruise to the side of her face, that was already healing with the fantastic thing that was Aura.

Pyrrha also seemed battered, but in much better shape compared to Nora, since she didn't have any bruises apart from minor scratches. She did seem incredibly apologetic though.

"Let's go then, Ren." Jaune told his friend, before saying, "Miss Goodwitch, can me and Ren go as well?"

"Alright, but get your combat gear." The teacher said, nonchalantly despite the fact that she regarded him with a vague amount of concern.

Nevermind that, because he planned on doing his best... Even if it seemed pathetic in the end...

* * *

Ren readied his two weapons, and watched Jaune do the same, but with slightly more nervously then usual. Then again, it was the first time that the knight actually wanted to fight, ever since the whole CRDL fiasco.

Whilst he hoped that his leader didn't have the idea in his head that he wanted to win, but that was merely him drawing thoughts from Jaune's brain. He wasn't telepathic, for all he knew.

The ninja rushed forward, deciding that using the SMG part of his gun would be a dick move. Also, he did want to test how decent his sole male friend was at melee combat.

He struck with one of his blades towards the blond who blocked, rather well with his shield. But he quickly kicked the boy's knee which made hims stumble, and performed a palm strike towards the leader's jaw, sending him barreling into a wall.

He decided not to press the attack, and dissect Jaune's fighting style, to see if the blond could adapt. If he didn't, then Ren would have to teach him how to adapt.

The blue-eyed boy quickly rushed towards him, and Ren didn't move, until the last second. It was to see if the boy would either pull a Cardin, and try to overpower him.

The antique sword narrowly missed his arm, and he quickly palmed the poor guy on his ribs, that knocked the wind out of him, but didn't send him right towards the wall. Ren rushed him with his blade-guns, performing an overhead strike, that Jaune surprisingly had enough reflexes to block with his shield.

The blond then forced him back, and performed an arc with his sword. The ninja dodged by jumping backwards, but gave a small smile, which Jaune replied with a grin of his own. Honestly, he had been slower then he was, he would have probably gotten hit.

However, he wouldn't let the Arc become confident. He was dragging out the fight, as it was, and didn't want the anger of his classmates because they hadn't gotten their turn.

He sidestepped an overhead sword strike, and kicked the boy in the knee again, before unleashing an aura-enhanced palm strike, that was fast enough to go right past Jaune's attempt to shield himself with with well his shield, and land right against his jaw, sending him sprawling towards a wall.

Ren followed up with a kick, poised towards the downed blond's stomach who managed to once more block with his shield. He seemed to use his shield more and more, which was good for protecting against single attacks...

He backed off, waiting until his leader got up, before using for the first time in the fight the SMG parts of his guns, which clattered against the shield, and parts of the wall. He eventually ran towards the blond, and swept up his legs from under him, before unleashing another aura-enhanced palm strike towards the blond's stomach.

 **You have levelled up your Aura Strike skill by one!**

The window completely stopped him in his tracks, as he looked on in a mixture of shock and... _Glee_. His Semblance had... Either evolved, or he hadn't either trained enough to make a message like this appear.

It distracted enough to let Jaune knock his face in with his shield, and follow it up with a sword strike to the torso, that forced him to roll to avoid the other myriad of attacks against his person.

He eventually decided to end the fight, just so he could see what the hell was going on with his strange as all hell Semblance. He bounded towards the Arc, who held up his shield valiantly before Ren fired a few stray shots right to Jaune's right, before leaping at the hole that it left in his guard when the boy turned to the sound of gunfire instinctively.

He once more swept the feet under the blond's feet, and uppercutted the boy in the stomach, before following up with an aura-enhanced palm to the face that sent him flying into the arena walls.

The alarm chimed, and the ninja quickly ran up to the boy, grabbing the rather beaten boy by the arm, taking him so that they could change his weapons... And so that he could apologize.

He had gone in way too hard on his leader, in his haste to make the boy stronger, and to make himself bigger. He'd accept any harsh comments from his classmates, because they were probably deserved.

His Semblance could wait for the moment.

"Oh crap... What hit me?" Jaune commented as he groggily awoke from his unconsciousness.

"It was me. I got way too overexcited about my Semblance, and forgot about your wellbeing." Ren said, before continuing after a vague pause, "So for that, I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," the boy accepted readily. "I can also get excited... My sisters said I was always hyperactive when I was younger."

"I think that you forgot the bunny part," he retorted without any thought, nor malice behind his words.

"Oi! I'm telling you that I wasn't the bunny of the family!"

"If only your bunny pyjamas weren't the contrary of that statement."

* * *

After classes were over, Ren stood in front of his three teammates, noting Nora's overexcited look, Pyrrha's pensive one, and Jaune's anticipative one.

He started up by deciding of dropping the bombshell on both of his female teammates heads, by outright saying/specualting, "I think that my Semblance might be about living my life as a video game, with levels and stuff."

"Are you kidding me?" Nora asked, before staring into his eyes for a long agonizing ten seconds before muttering, "You're actually not... You aren't."

"I don't know anything about it myself, apart from the fact that I have skills that I only know one of, that I can see as far as level 72 give or take, and that I have a thing called stats... But, if what Jaune tells me is right about the matter, I should have quite a few more things to play with." He explained.

"Either this is the most elaborate prank ever or you're telling me the truth." Pyrrha put her two cents in. "But I personally believe you. Why would you go through this effort for a prank of all things?"

"Exactly. Renny isn't a prankster at all, he actually dislikes the thought of it!" The explosives experts added, a grin on her face.

"So, now that is out of the way," Jaune interrupted, relatively nervously. "We need to see if his Semblance can acutally help us develop as well... Because, this is technically a multiplayer game, since you say that people have levels as well, right?"

"Yes... But I suspect that it is also murked by stats, and my own perspective of the situation. I have always thought that third years, and fourth years should be much more skilled then us, so maybe my Semblance added a few levels to them, for example." Ren pointed out.

"And... We could all be NPC's to him?" Pyrrha voiced, drawing surprised looks from the entire team. She flushed. "What? I did get to play games, a tiny bit..."

The dark-haired boy shook his head, ignoring the fact that his perspective of Pyrrha had just been moved to a completely new place, and continued, "And before we experiment with that stuff, I reckon that I should at least discover what else it can do at the moment. Just to be on the safe side."

"Sure..." Jaune said reluctantly. "If you want..."

"Don't worry Jauney! Ren'll share the results with us all!" Nora quickly exclaimed.

"Since Jaune is probably the most knowledgable on games out of our team, I reckon that he should be a good place to start, on what type of abilities your Semblance could have." Pyrrha stated, her eyes growing interested at something or other.

"Since we've got three hours until all lights out, let's start now shall we?" Ren proposed, finding it incredibly easy now to speak to all of them, unlike barely a day ago when it was only Nora that he had felt entirely comfortable with.

"Alright." The blond leader said, before narrowing his eyes to concentrate.

Thirty seconds after, he smiled up to see that... Nora had nearly falled asleep, Pyrrha was trying her best to keep the hyper girl awake, and Ren was simply staring right at him. "God dammit! I was only concentrating for thirty seconds..."

"It was in fact five minutes." The ninja indicated, unhelpfully. "But I've discovered that I can now have the time on the corner of... What was it called again?"

"A HUD." The knight said, before elaborating at Ren's look of 'I don't know what the hell you're talking about'. "Heads-up display... Where you can see health, armor, et cetera."

"In my Semblance, I have a health and... Er, I guess Aura bar on the top-right, a map lookalike on the top left, and on the bottom, there's only the time."

"Sweet. That's a nice non clutter-filled HUD if I've ever seen one."

"Er... Guys, it might be three hours before lights out, but we're all exhausted. Let's do this as soon as we can tomorrow - it is a weekend." Pyrrha said, relatively sternly. At least, she was trying Ren mused, as he quickly changed, and went to bed.

It looked to be a good day tomorrow, for all that it was worth.

* * *

 **AN:** Quick spoiler warning: renisactingsostrangeforsomereasonthatisrelatedtohissemblancethatmostpeopleknowalotabout.

Hehehe. I had to do the above at least once - acting like a bit of an idiot... Which I usually do on this thing.

Expect jokes here and there, since not every story is grim dark. Volume 4 doesn't seem that bad on the darkness front, despite many people claiming that they cried at various points.

I might be a heartless bastard, actually. Dunno.

Might have to check up with Doctor Junkrat for some therapy.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** The reception has been good, but a reviewer asked why I put Weiss at a higher level then Blake when admittedly Weiss is weaker in a fight.

I personally think that Weiss is a offensive support if you'll excuse my gamer language. Essentially, she can deal a decent amount of damage, but she mainly uses her glypths as a means to boost herself, and team RWBY's... I dunno, speed for an example. So, if I were to use Weiss as a video game character, I'd probably be the resident support, instead of the straight up fighter.

Probably not very clear, but if you want me to put out a reasonable comparison, I'd say that Lucio from Overwatch is a good one.

Thus, her DEX/STR/VIT aren't as high as Blake's, but she has much higher INT/WIS that are key factors that boosted her higher then Blake... LUK is debatable really, since it is a really strange stat, all around, especially if I make it work how I'm planning to.

I might talk about I'm going to operate with it, in the next chapter... Or at the end of the chapter. Who knows, it depends on my mood, honestly.

Also about battle experience, Blake for all we know, could have only gone on a few missions... And the White Fang only became violent (in my headcanon) barely seven years before canon started... Whilst Weiss has been training for approximately ten, if my headcanon still applies.

Longer but less intense training versus intense, but shorter training if you want to resume it with a single sentence.

* * *

The Players

Chapter II

Unusual Encounters, Mechanics

* * *

Ren woke up, wondering how he had woken up at 1 instead of his usual 7-ish. He found himself immediately, thinking it was another side effect of his Semblance. Then again, how could he blame this on a Semblance, that he had 'unlocked' a month ago?

Why hadn't the side-effect (if it was one of his Semblance) affected him until now?

So many questions, and one of the only people that he could trust with this knowledge, was sleeping... In his bunny pyjamas.

He let out a silent laugh, and decided that staying awake doing nothing would be extremely unnecessary for discovering what _the hell his Semblance actually did_. Yes, he really wanted to uncover next to all of the abilities of his Semblance in the space of four hours, but he knew that it would be next to impossible.

Standing up from his bed, and taking a green t-shirt and black pants to wear, he set out to simply explore Beacon. It wasn't uncommon for nocturnal Faunus' to have to do something so that they didn't get overexcited the next day, so the faculty essentially let one in five lights on.

At least, that was the official reason, from what he could gather. Ren wasn't stupid nor dense - some couple had to let out some steam at some point, and the professors occasionally played a few... Alcohol-related games that they obviously couldn't let out to the officials.

Yes, Ren was in the know for most of the things that he was interested in, which wasn't a lot admittedly. He'd have to fix that, he supposed.

He exited JNPR's room quietly, and vaguely heard muttering from what he guessed was RWBY's room. He ignored it until he heard a small quiet slam of a door, and leant out from the pillar that hid him, before he noticed Weiss Schnee...

Trying hard not to tear up.

Strange.

And she was clutching some type of formal letter.

Strange but reasonable since she was the Heiress to a multimillion lien company that thought themselves to be superior to most other people apart from their associates.

Against his common sense to just leave it alone, he walked over silently to the heiress, and wait until she seemed not ready to tear up, just as hard.

"What's the matter?" Ren asked, quietly.

"Who- Oh. It's you." The white-haired girl said, with a relatively snobbish tone that he managed to ignore, incredibly easily since it was a mere mask, was what he could discern from it. She was still sniffling, after all.

Not really used to any girl apart from Nora, and _maybe_ Pyrrha, he merely sat down next to her on the stairs, until she seemed to find him needing an answer.

"It's nothing, really..." The Schnee said, sniffling whilst she tried to get herself back together.

"Hmm." He hummed, before saying, "We're not even acquaintances, but can I give you a bit of advice?"

She stiffened, dreading something before nodding reluctantly.

"If you have any problems at all, you should probably tell them to your team-" He started, before she interrupted sharply.

"Why do you think that I have a problem?"

"I can tell that you have one, but I think that you know that." Ren replied, calmly, dodging her question. "Can I finish what I was about to say?"

"You dodged the question," she remarked, but nodded anyway.

She seemed in higher spirits, he noted, before continuing. "And if they don't understand, then explain your reasoning. Why, I hear you ask?"

"Yes, that was what I was about to say." She muttered to herself, but he ignored easily.

"Because, us human beings refuse to understand what we cannot understand. It takes either extreme understanding, lack of prejudices, to ignore that, and if they don't have those things, simply try and _make_ them understand." Ren explained, his throat hurting a bit from the amount of talking that he had been doing.

It was much more Jaune's or Nora's forte in his opinion.

Weiss considered his words, before releasing a small yawn that she tried to cover up. Cute, was what he reckoned other boys would say about it. "...Thanks."

"No problem at all." He said quietly, walking down the stairs.

Her voice stopped him though. "I... I needed that, Mister Lie."

"Just call me Ren. I can get used to a few more people doing it." He commented, before departing on his way to explore a bit more.

He still had a few more hours to kill, after all.

* * *

Weiss looked at Lie(Ren, she wanted to say)'s back as he left, to do... Something.

She hated using common words like that, but it was the only word that she could conjure up at the moment that could describe it.

He was a rather fascinating character, that she felt an inclination to delve a bit more deeper into. But, since he had respected her privacy unlike her _leader_ (even with the Professor's advice, she found it hard to admit that the girl was the leader), she decided to respect his own.

Her father's (cold, harsh) letter still stung immensely, but she found that his (Ren's) words comforted her somewhat. They might not be actual comfort, but she had been given advice, that she (despite the fact that she refused to admit it) desperately needed.

It seemed like not all boys in this school were unrefined... Shrab, as Klein had said one day jokingly.

She smiled at the memories for a moment, before another yawn escaped her.

Alright, she would admit that she needed some sleep.

Weiss Schnee would not dream of reprimanding fathers, absent mothers nor desperate ambitions for that night/early day.

* * *

Ren returned to the dorm at six, just in case that anyone would awake to find him gone, and panic.

He had planned it well since Pyrrha woke up as soon as he stepped into the dorm, before going back to sleep... Well, it seemed that someone was cutting back on their habits, he thought amusedly.

He decided to wake up Jaune first, in twenty minutes so that he could find out if he had a thing called skills, from what he had heard from CRDL's bedroom. Talk about exploiting the late night rules.

Apparently, the one who got the most angry at video games between them, was in fact Russel instead of Cardin. He had not expected that since Russel had seemed the most _calm_ one outside.

Then again, everyone had to unleash themselves at something at some point. For him personally it was in fights against the Grimm that he let himself go, but that was him.

And even then, he tightly controlled his anger in controlled bursts.

But, that was yesterday and here is today, to steal one of Ruby's phrases.

Instinctively, he headbutted Jaune in the gut as a loud thud resonated when the poor boy slipped over a small pile of clothes that was right in the middle of the room, and landed right onto Ren's headbutt.

"Arck!" The Arc got out, before landing heavily on the ground, with a massive slam and clutching his poor stomach.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted, bounding out of her bed smashing her head against the frame of her bed, that caused her to fall on the poor blond.

Nora finally finished up with, mumbling something about pancakes and sloths, and then fell over Pyrrha, still asleep.

"..." The green ninja simply stared at the utter pandemonium, before immediately taking out his Scroll, taking a quick photo just so that he could laugh at it later. He was too stunned to laugh right now.

"Are you really taking a photo of this?" asked Jaune, as he heard the familiar sound of a photo being taken, before letting out another groan of pain.

"Yes," was his amused reply, as he started the process of pulling Nora off the pile, without waking her up and taking an uppercut to jaw.

Pyrrha quickly got up as soon as Nora was put back on her bed, embarrassed. Their leader took a second to rest, before getting up as well from the floor, a little more worse for wear.

"I'll be outside," Ren stated as he let the two change into their casual clothes. It was also an opportunity to laugh this off, lest he do it in a more unusual place.

As soon as he closed the door behind him, he started chuckling for a good thirty seconds, and then stopped as soon as he got the laughter out of him. It earned him a few looks, but he easily ignored them.

Jaune was the first one to get out (naturally), and was merely wearing his hoodie, and a pair of jeans. "I hope that they don't take long..."

He raised an eyebrow. "...You've just cursed us, Jaune. Literally cursed us."

"Oh. If I have, you'll forgive me right? Right?" The Arc asked, desperately.

"Depends if it lasts more then an hour." Ren replied, before waiting a second before elaborating on his discrete joke. "Also, I was joking about that... Nora usually takes ten to fifteen minutes, and Pyrrha probably takes even less then that."

"...Dammit." muttered the boy under his breath.

"Also," He continued, ignoring his mutters. "What the hell are skills in video games?"

"They're abilities, that you can use in a fight or outside of one if the game permits it." Jaune explained, perking up. "Can you get some type of menu up, or something like that?"

"...Give me a second." The ninja said, before closing his eyes, and do something that he did quite often.

Which was to manipulate his Aura, into doing something for him, such as enhancing a specific part of his body, or healing himself. But, what he wanted to do now, was simply get his **Skills** page up.

Feeling his Aura reacting to the mental command, he opened his eyes to see that, he had approximately six skills, and five passives that he couldn't be bothered to read up right now.

It felt rather strange, seeing what he could do with both of his body and Aura simply being displayed like this.

"So. Did you get anything like a menu?" The Arc asked, impatiently.

"Yeah... Do you want me to tell you my Skills, and er... Passives?" Ren asked.

"Hmm. Nah. Let's wait for Pyrrha and Nora, and go to a library, so that we're not interrupted." Jaune decided, before they waited another five minutes.

The two girls of their team came out, with their casual clothes, and their leader quickly explained their plan of action, to which they simply agreed with varying levels of sound.

At their arrival, the ninja quickly steered his teammates towards the farthest table, and quickly joined the huddle up that was being performed.

"So... You've got these things called skills and passives?" Pyrrha inquired, whispering quietly.

Ren made an affirmative noise, as he scribbled on a piece of paper rapidly.

"And skills are special moves that you can do, and passives are your Aura, your fighting style, among other things?" Nora continued, much more quietly then usual.

He made another affirmative noise, before showing them his hastily made diagram, of what his HUD looked like at the moment, and then he grabbed another piece of paper, and started to write down what his skills and passives were.

"So, this is what you see, all the time? Including that window?" Jaune asked, taking his turn as interrogator.

"Yeah," he replied, absently. "The window however, is my skills and my passives page, which I can close down of course."

A silence drifted onto the table, until Ren had finished his paper, showing it to his teammates.

* * *

 **SKILLS:**

 **Aura Strike LV20:** An Aura-enhanced palm strike that momentarily disorientates enemies, and with continuous and well-placed hits, can send them staggering backwards. Inflicts 100HP of damage, and costs 50AP.

 **Enhancement LV25** : The basis of all Aura enhancement techniques, it can be used to enhance both user and teammate. Cannot be used on clothing or weapons. Costs 7AP per second.

 **Manipulation LV37:** The art of manipulating Aura, it is the basis of ALL Aura techniques. Unlocks when the **passive** Aura is at LV40.

 **Reinforcement LV10:** Differently of Enhancement, you can do this on your weapons, clothing and armor. Unlocks when the **skill** Enhancement is at LV15. Costs 8AP per second.

 **Swirl LV27:** Can only be used when dual-wielding weapons. You turn into a whirlwind, spinning blades and bullets around the place. Inflicts 125HP every five seconds at close range, and costs 75AP.

 **Observe LV1:** The ability to **observe** somebody, which can at the moment, tell you their level, name and a vague outline of their past. Only goes up to LV5.

 **PASSIVES:**

 **Aura LV42:** The manifestation of the soul, it can be used for nearly any technique, is the basis of all aura-consumption based attacks. Levels with INT and WIS.

 **Lotus' Style LV40:** A fighting style, that focuses on quick strikes, a keen mind, and knowledge of the human body. Best used in tandem with Aura, levels with INT, WIS and DEX.

 **Dual Weaponry LV35:** You can competently use two weapons at the same time, with the same amount of accuracy if firearms are used. Levels with DEX.

 **Gamer's Body LV _MAX:_** Grants the user the ability to live life like a video game. You receive no physical damage from attacks, only pain for a few seconds.

 **Gamer's Mind LV _MAX:_** Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through, allows for peace of mind and you are not affected by psychological effects.

* * *

"Wow..." Jaune whistled, quietly. "That is quite a lot of skills and passives."

"But, you're gonna say that I need more of them to get more levels, aren't you?" The ninja asked rhetorically, since it was logical to him. More skills, more chance to level. More higher levelled skills, meant much more levels for him, was his reasoning.

"Yeah... How did you guess that?" The leader asked, curiously.

"It's logical, isn't it? Get more skills, and get them to a higher level, then you get more levels." He answered, neutrally. "At least, that's how I'd try to do it, if I ever even _wanted_ to make a game."

"Well, that's how I guess it's work... But firstly, we need to found out what type of build, you want to be." The blond stated, before asking, "What are your stats, so that I can have a baseline to work with."

"...But since most of his passives, seem to base themselves around INT, WIS and DEX, shouldn't we base it around that?" Pyrrha piped up.

"That's an idea, and a half... Give me a second..." Their leader said, before quickly grabbing a scrap of paper, and started scribbling down on it.

Ren leant over, but immediately pulled back since everything that was written was either nonsensible, or unreadable. He noted that Pyrrha had the same reaction, but Nora was nodding along, even whispering to their leader quietly.

"...Am I the only one that thinks my Semblance is a stupid gimmick?" He muttered, before adding, "That is admittedly useful if you think about it."

"Hey, Ren?" The red-headed champion asked him, interrupting his muttering. "How about you use that Observe skill on me? I'd like to see what it says."

"Sure... Just give me a second." The ninja said, before he commanded his Aura to **Observe**.

"This is what my Semblance says about you: Pyrrha Nikos - LV39 - Four times champion, famous for her skills with a spear. Wants to not be famous, and be a normal person. You, the Gamer, are her friend, so don't mess it up." Ren told her, literally repeating what his Semblance told him. This made him think for a second - did his Semblance reflect what he thought of her, or was it another strange thing that couldn't be explained by reasoning? _  
_

"...Thanks, Ren." She said, after a moment's contemplation on her part.

"No problem." The black-haired boy replied, honestly. "Happy to help."

* * *

"Have your suspiscions been confirmed?"

"It seems that I was correct. Lie Ren does have the Gamer semblance."

"This... Changes things. Immensely."

"It does. It seems that our only hope isn't her, then."

"It's better like that in my opinion. At least, _if_ she does fail, we have a backup plan."

"But, we've already allocated resources into her progressing... If he is to be our backup plan, then we must also heighten the stakes for him as well."

"We could combine the two teams together-"

"No!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...I apologize for my outburst. But, if our only hopes rest on these eight, then me and my partner must also up the training of our champions. You have yours, and we have ours."

"Luckily, the Vytal Tournament is coming up. A personal meeting, is much better then these types of meetings."

"...We must still up the stakes. According to our agent, she is already on the move, with her lackeys and their lackeys. They must be prepared for the upcoming events."

* * *

It was taking way too long for Jaune and Nora to decide, so he and Pyrrha had decided to spar instead of waiting around like idiots for the two.

After all, the champion had confided in him, that she was nearly as clueless as he was, about the subject. It was nice to know, that he wasn't the only one that had little to no clues about this stuff.

He did regret asking her to spar, though. She was completely thrashing him, and he had only managed to momentarily stop her advance by enhancing his palm strikes so hard that they could send an Ursa packing into a tree about fifty meters away.

She got barely sent back five meters, and was back up in seconds anyway.

"...Good going, Ren." Pyrrha said, after a few pants, sweat dripping from her head.

"I... Guess... So..." The boy got out, after coughing from lack of breath, sweat dripping from all over his body. "Give... Me... A second."

He pulled on his Aura reserves, and focused with all of his might to completely evaporate the sweat that was around him.

 **A new Skill was created!**

"What... Was that?" She asked, after a moment of stupefication.

"I... Tried to... Evaporate... All of the sweat..." He replied, before letting out another cough. "And I... Got a... Skill from it."

"Take a deep breath, though... Take a look at your Aura meter." Pyrrha proposed.

He immediately performed the action, since it was the best course of action in his mind.

Crap. He had nearly gone to ten percent Aura... Had he really wasted that much Aura...?

An idea suddenly came to mind. It would hurt like hell, but if he could create a Skill from it...

"Pyrrha? This is incredibly dangerous, but I'll stop you if I'm going to completely lose my health." He said.

She was hesitant. "What is this plan of yours?"

"Don't worry. Here's what I want you to do... Beat me until I can form a passive that can lessen the damage that I take from attacks." Ren stated.

"No! I'm not going to..." The champion interrupted.

"Don't worry... If I ever descend below a thousand HP, we'll stop. Just trust me." He reassured.

"Promise?" She asked, hesitantly.

"Yes. It's a promise, and I honour my promises." The ninja reassured, before preparing himself for an onslaught of blows...

That came within seconds of him saying go.

Hopefully, this absolutely crazy idea would work... Because if otherwise, he would have taken a beating for nothing.

* * *

 **AN:** That's a wrap.

Holy shit that took a long time to write, despite my relatively free schedule.

And the next one will take even longer, because I just got the Witcher 3, Dark Souls 3, and Dishonored for Christmas.

Hope you enjoyed, have a happy Christmas (because this chapter has been released on Christmas).

No, I don't think that I'm going to do a Christmas special for any of my stories. Maybe next year.


	3. Chapter 3

**Quick Question** _ **:**_ Do people want me to actually reply to reviews, or just simply answer stuff that I find amusing/that needs answering/etc? Because, I do actually want to reply to your reviews, but it seems that my only method is through actually writing it into the Author's Notes... And I don't want to actually review my own story because to be honest... It looks pretty shady and dumb as hell.

Also, sorry for not updating this story. Got sidetracked by... Overwatch, The Witcher 3, DOOM and other magnificent games, some of them even being mentioned in this story. Rooster Teeth also gave Ren a Semblance, that I might be able to incorporate as a Skill, or give that Semblance to someone else. Dunno. Yes, Gamer powers are _wonderfully_ overpowered... In any setting.

The Witcher soundtrack has pushed this chapter forward - look for this, if you wanna hear it: 'Witcher 3: Skellig Peaceful Theme' (note: that is the title of the YT video, I know that Skellig is actually written Skellige in-game and in-books.) There's also 'Kaer Morhen Extended', that reflects RWBY in a somewhat poetic way. Some elements are even a part of this story...

If anything isn't exactly consistent with the show, it's because I only really remember all the important bits (at least for me): plot points, powers such as (relative spoiler) the Maidens, character interactions...

* * *

The Players _  
_

Chapter III

Lotwir

* * *

Ren barely had enough time to block Pyrrha's extremely powerful sword hit that was poised to enter his stomach, before he received a shield bash to the face, staggering backwards.

Quickly thinking on his feet, he narrowly jumped back to avoid a sword strike, and threw his weapons at her. It surprised her momentarily, giving him enough time to run forward and palm strike her in the stomach, sending the surprised girl sprawling.

Unfortunately, it didn't have the effect of making her drop her weapons which surprised him immensely. He shook his head. He had to get back in game - he had gotten a good hit on her, (which was more then he could say most of his classmates had ever done against her). But, it had been the _only_ major hit that he had gotten, whilst she had gotten many more against him.

Distracted, he barely had time to react when Pyrrha slammed her shield into his stomach, and struck him with the blunt-sided end of her sword in the neck that sent him sprawling... And coughing blood.

"Oh shit!" The champion swore, as she rushed over to him. Ren raised an eyebrow at her, surprised at seeing her swear.

"Don't give me that," she chided, worry leaking into her tone, as the other members of JNPR came down. "You're hurt!"

"I was the one to get bored with you hitting me, and ask for a fight." He pointed out, as he started to stand up, before slamming back down on the ground due to how exhausted he was.

"Y-yeah, but..." She stammered, as Jaune quickly lent his friend a hand.

"It doesn't matter!" The blond interrupted, panicked but commanding. Which admittedly, didn't make much sense, but in context... It _did._ "He's hurt-"

"Guys," he said, trying to appease their concern - but he went unnoticed.

"Just hurry!" Nora exclaimed her eyes wide as if... He flinched, _that_ Grimm still burned into his memory like ice to frozen water.

"Guys!" He snapped loudly, his eyes narrowed, the memories of it all aggravating him. Gamer's Mind kicked in luckily before he snapped at them any more.

Much calmer, Ren continued, their gazes concerned and another emotion that he didn't want to see _ever_ on his friends faces - fear. "I'm sorry. I'm fine - all I need is a few minutes to recuperate my HP and AP, and I don't feel pain apart from a few seconds. I'm _alright_."

He didn't even look at them (he hated fear) as he started to walk towards the exit. Plastering a (unnatural since he rarely did any) smile, he called them over. "Come on. I got to clean my clothes, and Pyrrha does too, I think."

"Yeah." Jaune replied, tiredness leaking into his voice. "Let's go, team."

* * *

"Are you sure that this is the best way to go about it?"

"You have to admit, they don't seem to have experienced much of _this_ type of work."

"We had to do it though, didn't we? We _all_ have had to sacrifice things that we would never, ever want to sacrifice... They will learn like we did."

Silence reigned in the room, before another spoke up.

"Our other team is handling it much better."

"They aren't if you think about it."

"I have to agree - they only see things in black and white - even if their own _teammates_ are shades of grey. Whilst, even if they aren't mature just yet, the Gamer and his partners know about shades of grey."

"I disagree. They all do see it - some just simply refuse to see it that way. RWBY have seen it with Torchwick, but they refuse to see what has been demonstrated, despite knowing from their... Experiences. JNPR haven't, but I'm sure that they might notice it."

"We need to accelerate it somehow - she's moving _closer by the minute, and they are not prepared."_

A voice that had not spoken whilst the three discussed, spoke up. "I think that I might have something, then."

"We're all ears, I think that you'll all agree."

"Yes/Yes."

* * *

Salem's eyes awoke from her supposed 'sleep', her red eyes surveying the wonderful birth of her pets and minions. She had other things on her mind however - the fact that a Gamer had reportedly appeared in this world by one of her informants.

This put her plans on a major setback - she knew that _he_ would definitely make the Gamer powerful, and maybe, powerful enough to be a massive spanner in the works.

She might have to make a few adjustments - backup plans, contingency plans... Cinder's plan was just overt _enough_ to have a bunch of first years discover her assets - whilst the others had taken care of them before they became a problem. Cinder was a boon, even if some of her operations were much too theatrical for her tastes. A change had to be made.

The other operations carried out where covert enough, so Cinder would have to fall in line as well - half maiden or not.

 _She would not lose ever again._

* * *

Ren had gained something from that whole fiasco - the Physical Resistance passive, which had levelled to ten after the whole thing had ended.

Why the hell was he immediately thinking of the positives? His team was emotional after his stunt, and he had done it all for what?! A bunch of idiotic numbers!

Calming down immediately, he cursed Gamer's Mind... Despite all the positives, it had a negative side effect: he felt like a robot going through the motions. He did something to gain some more numbers on something or other.

People were of barely any consequence because of that. Gamer's Mind instantly negated any powerful emotions that he had, to enable him to logically analyse things.

Logic was cold, and relatively unfeeling. He felt... Something for his team, but it was so subdued, that he could barely recognize what it was.

"Ren?" Nora interrupted his thoughts, quietly. They were alone for the most part - Pyrrha had gone to the shower, and Jaune had gone to talk to Ruby about gaming (probably to fish for more information about his Semblance).

"Yes?" He replied, neutrally.

"Are you... Feeling alright?" She asked, before starting to ramble. "I mean, you're just so calm about this and... Er... I-i..."

"...No." Ren admitted to his best friend after a moment. "It's nothing compared to... _That_ day, but..."

He paused, feeling unable to word it.

"Ren...?" She coaxed, slowly. "Just... Say it."

"I can't feel anything correctly... Everything has to be logical now - I always think of the benefits, when you are all suffering and feeling guilty - when it's all my fault! _I'm_ the one that's meant to feel guilty, but all I can do is analyse what was the positive, and what was negative but _only about me_. Gamer's Mind makes me think like that, and you guys all feel secondary... And..." He rambled, stopping occasionally to hear himself. He sounded _so_ nonchalant... Even his father's death just seemed... Barely there.

An afterthought.

"Ren..." She croaked, sounding sad for him, but then a fire surged into her tone, as she leaped to hug him. "It doesn't matter! You're... The best thing to ever happen to me! Your Semblance doesn't change anything - at least, to me! Who cares if you can't exactly feel every emotion! You are my best friend, and nothing will ever change that!"

The Gamer startled for a moment, before letting out a chuckle, and wrapping his arms around the small powerhouse that was his best friend.

"Thanks, Nora... I needed that. I really did. I'm gonna go change my outfit. See you and the rest of the team in five minutes or so." He said after a moment, detaching himself from the hammer maiden, and walking to the bathroom.

"You out, Pyrrha?" Ren asked, knocking on the door.

"Yeah. Give me a second..." She replied, and he heard the distinct sound of soap and water being used, presumably to wash away any residue blood that hadn't come off during her first shower.

Only his clothes were bloodied luckily, but he still had to take a shower - apparently his Gamer powers couldn't just remove all the sweat and grit that had accumulated on his body.

He moved to the side, and Pyrrha came out, wearing an orange t-shirt and black shorts. He nodded at her, and entered the bathroom, putting his clothes in the washing basin, and quickly turned the nob to the hot water.

He was pretty sure that the washing liquid they had didn't wash blood, since for the most part, nobody expected somebody to willing have their Aura drained, and since the world was in a relative state of peace...

Grabbing a sponge from the corner of the room, he rapidly scrubbed his clothes clean, even earning the 'Cleaning' skill, because of it. He then went into the shower, hastily turning it to hot water, before simply, relaxing, letting the water pass over him.

After getting clean, he turned the water off, and grabbed a towel from the side of the room, drying himself, and then wrapping the towel around his waist. Exiting the bathroom, Ren quickly grabbed some clothes - mainly a purple t-shirt, and dark blue tracksuit bottoms, and then re-entered the bathroom to change.

By the time he had completed those objectives, Jaune had arrived, grinning like he had found out something incredible. Which he may have, given that he was talking to Ruby.

"Guys!" He called, crashing into the room, panting, with Pyrrha hastily shutting the door behind the knight since she was the second closest to the door. "I found some stuff out from asking Ruby... Ha-aahhh."

"Jaune," the red-head ordered, "sit down, and take a breath or two. It can wait long enough that you can take some of your breath back, right?"

The Arc merely nodded, his face red in embarrassment, before sitting down on the chair to their desk, that had some video games, consoles, et cetera on it.

"Ookay. Gimme a sec or two, gotta figure out how to demonstrate this." Jaune said, before staring at the art on one of his games, grabbing it, and putting it into the console. "Alright. Since this game has some of the best co-op... And shooting..."

"What are you going on about," Ren asked, curiously. He had an inkling what this was about, but that was merely theoretical.

"Here," Jaune started to explain. "Is what I was talking about to Ruby."

"Oh yeah! I love this game!" Nora exclaimed, "this is Borderlands 2, isn't it?"

"Yeah." The knight consented, adding, "grab another controller Nora, we're gonna play together for a bit to demonstrate to Pyrrha and Ren what I'm talking about."

"Oh yeah! I got you!" The blue-eyed girl yelled, apparently understanding whatever the hell Jaune was talking about.

Ren glanced at Pyrrha with an expression that essentially said: what the hell is going on?

She replied with: how do I know?

An unspoken conversation then followed, which ended with the conclusion that they were never going to properly understand video games, and that their respective partners were somewhat mentally unstable.

"Guys! Here is what I'm talking about," Jaune interrupted over the familiar sounds of gunshots, screaming, and explosions. Yes, the two played this game waaayyy too often for him to be comfortable with - and he reckoned that Pyrrha agreed with him, once more.

"All I'm seeing is a splitscreen..." The champion retorted, crossing her arms.

"Oh... My... God. Haven't you seen us play this game before?!" The knight exclaimed, shooting a surprised look at the two of them.

"We were too distracted by something called: the real world..." Ren replied this time, embodying sarcasm at the moment.

"...Anyway," the Arc continued, deciding that they weren't worth the effort of explaining the value of video games... Even if Ren occasionally played the Witcher 3, and Pyrrha played Dark Souls 3, for crying out loud! "The splitscreen thing represents co-op - by the way Nora, there's a Loader Bot coming your way - essentially where two or more people play in the same game, helping each other out. To do that, me and Nora need to form a party so that we can play together. And I want you, Ren to see if you have a party feature."

"What are the benefits over simply, well, hanging out and doing this?" He replied, somewhat doubtful at the validity of forming a 'party'.

"If it's true that you have it, then we should be able to share XP, and even have our own inventory..." Jaune continued, before looking at Ren. "Have you even checked if you had one?"

"Let me check right now." He replied, before mentally commanding his Semblance.

A grid-based inventory system popped up, with different sections for different things: Weapons, Armor, Miscellaneous, Crafting, Food and a searching system. He even had a miniature version of himself on the side, with armor slots, weapon slots, and even a section for consumable items, such as grenades, food amongst others.

"So?" Pyrrha asked, interrupting the silence. "Do you have one?"

"I do. It looks pretty similar to the Dark Souls inventory, but with a... Witcher touch to it?" He replied, knowing about those two games, since he did play them occasionally - and was good at the two, even Dark Souls. "It does have a searching function which is good."

"Huh. That's pretty awesome." Jaune complimented, immediately figuring out what he was talking about, Nora nodding in agreement. "See if you have a party system, now."

Ren nodded, before doing the same operation as last time. Except that this time, he had a party tab with his name and face at the top, with a small list of people underneath that he could invite. He immediately spied Nora, Jaune, Pyrrha, and even team RWBY if he wanted to.

There was a small window, telling him that essentially, he gained at least 50% of every bit of XP that obtained members of his party since he was the leader, with lower leveled characters gaining 200% more XP until they reach within five levels of the highest level character, who obtains the normal ratio.

So, basically, he was going to obtain 250% of what Pyrrha earned in XP until they were within 5 levels of her, and when he was at that stage, he'd still obtain 150% of what he should normally be getting. That was... Overpowered.

However, other party members obtain their own inventories, and even have their own Stats and Skills screen. However, they didn't have Gamer's Mind, Body, Observe, or obtain skill books, it was written.

Explaining all that was pretty easy, despite Jaune and Nora complaining that he would always be higher level then them, to which he shrugged, finding it just as unfair.

Pyrrha smiled widely, when he had announced this, probably since they were going to catch her up rather quickly if they killed tons of high level Grimm. This was also good for Jaune, who would eventually be within their level range, if he worked hard enough.

Quickly inviting them, they stared at the screens in front of them in astonishment, before Nora excitedly tapped the screen in front of her, with Jaune enthusiastically doing the same, except this time punching the metal bar of the bed.

"Ow! Shit, balls, fuck!" The knight yelled loudly, shaking his hand in pain.

Ren, Pyrrha and Nora stared at each other for a split second, before they started laughing.

"Come on guys! This isn't funny!" Jaune exclaimed. "That _hurt_ _!_ "

"No-no... It isn't because of that..." Ren answered, managing to contain himself to snorting in laughter. "It's just that... We were all so excited, and then you just manage to punch the metal bar of the bed - that is freaking _below_ the accept bar..."

Jaune chuckled, after a moment of concentration. "Have to admit... If that had happened to one of you guys, it _would_ have been funny."

"Ookay..." Pyrrha started to say, managing to calm herself to merely giggling. "Let's... Get back to work?"

"Yeah," Nora replied, "We could. Or we could experiment with our newfound powers!"

"Don't you mean _my_ powers that _I_ shared to you?" Ren pointed out.

"Oh... Yeaaahhh." The hammer maiden said, looking around, miming as if she wanted to escape. "Dammit."

Jaune snorted in amusement, just as his, Nora's and Pyrrha's stomachs started to rumble.

"I also think that our first 'quest'," Ren commented, drew the quotation marks in the air, "should probably be to get some food."

"In total and utter agreement," the knight replied, with the girls nodding at the notion.

* * *

Qrow narrowed his eyes, as he saw the bloodied corpse of a woman in the forest floor. There had been some reports on missing people in the area, and he had been hired to take whoever it was that had killed these people.

He knelt down, inspecting the body, muttering to himself, "strange. Their expressions are terrified. This forest hasn't had Grimm for decades so..."

The Huntsman inspected it further, immediately noticing the blue lips, unnatural paleness, and coldness. It had been sunny for weeks - she couldn't have been dead longer then that, anyway: corpses started decomposing _sooner_ in the sunlight.

"It must have been recent. Dammit, I'm getting into the habit of muttering again..." He commented, before standing up and reaching his conclusion. She had been killed by some type of Grimm-wraith, probably a nightwraith. Exceptionally rare, and more to the point, more dangerous then normal Grimm.

These type of Grimm could only be killed if something in particular got destroyed, or if not in that case, under either daylight or nighttime, or even, under specific seasons.

Luckily for him, this wraith seemed to not have been around for a long time - in fact this seemed to be its first victim. The season was summer, and that ended in a months time anyway.

He needed to find out about this woman - she had been called Kaylee Vert, according to the missing reports. With that in mind, he quickly entered town, frowning at the fact that Ozpin had ordered him close to towns, in order to take care of Grimm there. Only agent on hand nearby, he had said.

The unlucky man sighed, before entering the local inn, ignoring the rest of the population that had tried to find out what had happened. He needed to find out if she had any friends, and the place to start was the inn - which also doubled as a bar.

"Hey, barkeep." He called to the young woman minding the bar, as he settled on the stool. "I need some info on Kaylee Vert, if you have any."

"I do, but firstly: my name's Sarah, not barkeep. Secondly, do you want anything?" She retorted, somewhat heatedly. She had dark blue eyes, and dark hair that framed her oval, tanned face, he noted, but it was rather inconsequential information at the moment.

"Yeah, sure, but I'd prefer info about Kaylee for the moment." He replied, somewhat testily. He would regain his good humor when he was finally in the wilds, doing as he pleased... Or if he got a good amount of alcohol.

"Alright, alright. She arrived here about a year ago, with her brother, his wife and their kid in tow... God." Sarah replied, sounding extremely sad. "There was an accident. The brother's wife, Noire got killed by a Beowolf, whilst she and Kaylee were walking along the woods. Kaylee only escaped because it was too occupied by tearing her into pieces. The brother, Luke, became an alcholic overwhelmed by grief - apparently he couldn't look her in the eyes without getting angry."

"There's a bit of inconsistency there," he pointed out after a moment's silence. "Beowolf wait until everyone in proximity dies, before tearing flesh apart... Fuck, sorry. Didn't mean to be insensitive there."

"It... It's alright. You're probably somewhat desensitized to this stuff by now. Luckily, all the Grimm got killed and the er... Spawn got destroyed. It's a spawn right?" She asked, curiously surveying him.

Qrow realized that this was probably her first time seeing a Huntsman in action, and that her education came from the basics of schools, instead of an Academy which were reserved for Huntsmen.

"It is. You can also call it a nest, if you want a shorter word." The man answered. "You guys are pretty lucky though: that thing only spawned Beowolves, Boarbatusks and the occasional Alpha. It was also pretty easy to destroy- some spawns in the wilds have runes incorporated into them by cultists, that make them even tougher to kill, such as needing to use a silver weapon to destroy it, or needing the crushed bones of whoever did it."

"You mean that you Huntsmen have to kill people some times?!" She exclaimed, but luckily at this hour, he was the only one here that was actually sober enough to be able to talk properly.

"Shh." Qrow said, quickly putting his hand on her mouth. "Classified info normally. Except that I like you enough to give it to you."

"Sorry," Sarah said, blushing at his words, before quieting herself down. "Answer my question though."

"Sometimes. But only if the runes are too advanced and if the cultist who did it is dead. If he or she is alive, then we need a sample of their blood." He whispered, adding at her somewhat disgusted look. "Don't vilify us because of that - Grimm cultists are the worst people on this planet period. They go through rituals that require the blood of a virgin, or the blood of an unborn child _just_ to even _enter_. Imagine the graduation ceremony? Huntsmen are heroes compared to them."

"Oh..." The bartender whispered, looking down at the table. "Didn't know that fact."

"It doesn't mean anything to you," he assured her. "Cultists are extremely rare - rare enough that they aren't much of a problem to us. They are a problem though."

"Thanks... God, I don't even know your name!" Sarah commented, blushing up a storm at her misstep.

The Huntsman waved her off. "Doesn't matter. I've done worse, _much_ worse. Name's Qrow."

"Thanks, Qrow then. You going to speak to Luke now?" She asked, curiously. "If you are going to, he's normally at his house, on the right of this building, five houses down."

"Maybe, maybe not. Catch you later if I need/want to." He replied, keeping note of this info, before walking to the outside of the bar, and going to the town hall to run a background check on Sarah, to see if she was a suspect or not.

Grimm-wraiths were usually summoned by a cultist to form a parasitic bond with said cultist, which was pretty worrying since if that cultist had enough know-how, he or she could have made a spawn by now which would be _bad_ , especially in this relatively sleepy town with barely any guards.

He entered the hall, and immediately strolled calmly over to the secretary. "I need a background check on Sarah, bartender at the... Golden Feast."

"Sir... There isn't a Sarah that barkeeps the Golden Feast. There isn't even a woman employed there, period." The woman at the desk replied, after a moment of typing.

"You certain?" He asked, immediately narrowing his eyes.

"There is a Sarah Petunia though, five houses down to the right of the bar..."

"Fuck! Fuck!" He swore loudly, losing his cool. "Lock down the whole town, and tell everybody to spread salt around their homes! This is a class A emergency! NOW!"

"Alright..." The secretary started to say, but the man was already belting down the hallway. She immediately got to work, and started up her megaphone. "Citizens of Lotwir..."

* * *

Qrow bolted down the door, and entered the room filled with dead corpses, blood, and other things that indicated a cultist, with a single candle being lit.

"Figured me out, Huntsman?" Sarah said, her voice not as kind as it was before, and she was somewhere, in this house. The Huntsman could sense her but... Otherwise...

"What the fuck have you done?!" He yelled, his hand already gripping his weapon.

"I've been around for centuries, you realize... I've seen humanity stagnate, wars being waged over stupid things..." She started, just as the whole building started to shake. Wait, centuries? "And I've decided that _all_ humans should die-"

"You're a vampire..." He interrupted, stalling for time. "Higher. You were turned into one young, by your supposed boyfriend. I know how they turn people into vampires. Cultists rape their victim, put specific runes on them, and then let them die. You, unlike usual vampires, however, survived the first attempt. They raped you again, put runes, and then they even drug you with substances so that you become Higher Vampires."

"Yes... But, they were humans, n'est-ce pas?" She retorted, her voice even drifting to an old dialect of Atlesian. "Enough stalling! Fight me, HUMAN!"

Qrow immediately turned into a crow, and quickly exited the house, just a disfigured woman ran out of the house, long claws at the end of her fingers, feline features, and extreme unnatural paleness. This was _bad._

She was using the Grimm-wraith to empower herself, a higher vampire whose speed could already rival a Huntsman.

Luckily for him, he was much more then a normal Huntsman, he was one that was trained in the art of killing Unnatural Grimm, such as Grimm-wraiths, and et cetera. Also, she wasn't a primal Higher Vampire, luckily, which meant that she was killable by normal means.

Grabbing a black vial from his belt, he quickly inhaled the potion, which made his blood toxic for vampires... Even if it tasted absolutely _disgusting_. He then grabbed a grenade from his pouch, and prepared to throw it.

The vampire suddenly appeared right in front of him, and he was forced to narrowly sidestep a slice that would have probably taken out a good portion of his Aura.

He launched the bomb, her staggering giving him enough time to mash her over the head with the sharp end of his sword. She hissed loudly, and attempted to attack him, but Qrow was relentless in his attacks.

The Huntsman was thrown off, with a powerful kick to the stomach, that sent him sprawling, and his sword flying to the side. He narrowed his eyes, and glanced at his fists, deciding that they might be enough to distract her for a bit.

Jumping to the left, he attempted to punch her in the face but the vampire blocked his attack, grabbed his fist, and threw him over her shoulder.

Qrow landed heavily on his back, and before he could try and escape, she kneed him in the gut and attempted to tear his neck out.

She staggered backwards, howling in anguish. "It hurts so much! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, YOU BASTARD!"

"Something that all good Samaritans do when a vampire attacks... Poison their blood." He retorted feeling drained, kicking her in the stomach, which sent her to the ground and running towards his weapon.

He immediately turned the weapon into its shotgun form, and fired off multiple rounds at the vampire which pierced her skin, but instead caused her to become enraged.

He felt drained by the experience, the Grimm-wraith having enhanced the vampire's abilities enough that it could actually drain and bypass Aura if it bit someone, he noticed.

Qrow then decided that he would never gamble that she would try and bit him ever again.

His thoughts were torn from him, when the vampire _moved_ faster then his eye could track, slashing him even faster then he could react to. He jumped backwards, and immediately shut his eyes, letting his body talk for him.

When he reopened them, he was narrowly parrying all of her claw attacks, before grabbing a red bomb from his pouch and launching it at her. The fire licked her body, and she staggered backwards to let him kick her in the stomach, and then stab her in the throat, finally ending a fight that had decided the fate of an entire village.

He had no qualms about killing cultists, which was a point of contention with Raven. Why would he kill those people, and still have qualms about killing other people. Raven, however she might put it, had not seen cultists as he had. She had not seen what madmen corrupted by _her_ influence could do, and become.

Qrow fell down to ground, not even noticing the amount of blood he had lost due to her constant attacks earlier, before getting up, and closing the distance. He still had a Grimm-wraith to finish off.

He chanted slowly, but surely, an unnatural voice replacing his. " _Foul spirit who had defiled the natural order of this world, begone. You who have ignored the balance that maintains this world, and have become a parasite, begone. So mote it be._ "

His dark blue Aura launched forward and gripped the vampire, lifting its corpse into the air, and a black spirit roared before fighting back against the drained man, pouring all of its hatred and anger into getting away.

But Qrow was much stronger then a wife revived with vengeance, and he had a lot more emotions that were stronger then hers, which he manipulated to finally rid the world of a higher vampire and its parasitic partner, the wraith.

Then he decided to keel over in a puddle of his own blood, unconscious and drained.

* * *

"He's gone down. Send a rescue team immediately," Ozpin ordered Glynda, soon after he heard the mayor of Lotwir message him about the matter. "Specifically teams RWBY and JNPR, with supervisement from Professor Port and Oobleck."

"Yes, sir. I'll do it right away." She replied, quickly descending the stairs.

Ozpin surveyed his scroll, and immediately knew his decision that he made without thinking. Qrow would give out important advice, and maybe convince both teams about the world. What they had seen amounted to nothing, compared to the horrors that experienced an Expert Huntsman.

At least, that's what he told himself.

* * *

 **World of Remnant: Unnatural Grimm and Expert Huntsmen.  
**

Unnatural Grimm are a set of species of Grimm that are caused by external circumstances, such as Grimm-wraiths who are dead people brought back to life by the extension of their own hatred, rage, anger et cetera against the person that indirectly, or directly killed them.

Expert Huntsmen are a brand of Huntsmen who receive extra training in order to kill these types of Grimm, whom of which require certain rituals, weapons and even entire fighting styles to fight against these Grimm. They are extremely rare, just as rare as Unnatural Grimm, but are exceptionally skilled. They all usually have some form of special power, though some are merely exceptional Huntsmen.

* * *

 **IMPORTANT: I am really sorry for not updating.  
**

 **Hopefully this chapter redeems me. If the Qrow parts seemed random, it's meant to show a side of RWBY that is only seen from a Huntsman. The horror, despair that normal people can't even cope with.**

 **Cultists are extremely powerful, and are a major part of this story. The Gamer elements were simply dropped in that segment, because it wouldn't make much sense since it's from a completely different perspective, tone, et cetera.**

 **Hope you enjoyed.**


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